In the past, various different schemes have been utilized to effect the selective vending of a vended article from a vending machine in response to a preselected vending signal. To effect the operation of one of the past vending machines, a purchaser actuated a vended article selection device, such as a selection button or set thereof for instance, of the one past vending machine, thereby to indicate the vended article selected for purchase by the purchaser, and the purchaser also inserted the necessary amount of money into a money counting device of the one past vending machine for purchasing the selected vended article. In response to the aforementioned actuation of the vended article selection device and the receipt of the necessary purchase money in the money counting device, circuitry provided in the one past vending machine was energized to establish the preselected vending signal, and upon the generation of the preselected vending signal, a vended article delivery or dispensing device was selectively operated to dispense the selected vended article into a receptacle or removal container of the one past vending machine permitting the removal therefrom of the selected vended article by the purchaser.
Of course, various different vended article dispensing devices were employed in various different vending machines to effect the delivery of the selected vended article to the purchaser, and one such article dispensing device is illustrated in U.S. Pat No. 5,097,986 issued Mar. 24, 1992. In this patent, a vended article dispensing device is illustrated as a set of coils that are selectively conjointly rotatable in motor driven fashion about the longitudinal axis of the coils. A plurality of vended articles are disposed in horizontally, displaceably supported compartments in the coils, and upon the selected conjoint rotation of the coils, the vended articles contained in the coils are conjointly moved forwardly by a certain distance toward a front opening in a space supporting the vended articles. Thus, in response to the selected conjoint rotation of the coils, the forwardmost selected vended article in the coils is passed through the front opening in the space supporting the vended articles and falls through a drop chute into a removal container from which it can be taken by the purchaser.